The following article represents the work of John Tomer – “Understanding High Performance Work Systems: The Joint Contribution of Economics and Human Resource Management”.

Upon reflection of Mr. Tomer’s work and comparison of my extensive industrial experience, I concluded that our views are consistent and I will reference some of those views in the following article to explain why aligning People>Procedure>Practices and collectively eXecuting in a common measurable system, is the way to achieve long term economic sustainability and grow profitability. At the end of this post, I’m interested to hear your views on this topic.

Sustainability strategies abound for employing existing resources optimally, so that a responsible and beneficial balance can be achieved over the longer term. Within a business context, economic sustainability involves using the many assets of the company efficiently to allow it to continue functioning profitably over time.

A simpler definition of sustainability is a call to action (CTA), a task in progress or “journey”. To be realistic and achievable, involves a political process; clear definitions and vision must govern the common goals and values that are understood by all.

So how do you know when you have achieved the desired level of sustainability? Is it gut-feel-as-you-go? Or, do you have other less subjective and equally effective ways of knowing when you have gotten there? Maybe a better question is, have you ever achieved your desired level of sustainability? If you answer no, perhaps after reading this article you will have better insight and we could connect to determine how we can help you align and execute your measurable sustainability strategy.

We have developed a unique KPI that is derived from the results utilizing advanced statistical methods of production output. These results can be measured in terms of business reliability, production system utilization and effectiveness to formulate the overall operational eXecution level (OpX). This KPI can be used to characterize your position on the continuum from Reactive to Proactive work systems.

If you agree that desired profitability can be achieved thru sustainability excellence as measured by operational eXecution, then you know this is the successful key to aligning people, procedures, and practices (3Ps) that are collectively eXecuted in a common measurable system or framework know as high performing work system (HPWS) and human capital management (HCM).

So what kind of system do you operate in, traditional hierarchical, high performing work system (HPWS), or other? Let’s discuss HPWS in concert with a journey to eXecuting to profitable excellence.